THURSDAY 10 AUGUST (NB: Powerpoint Presentations may be large files)
All papers remain the copyright intellectual property of the authors
9am Plenary Session
Keynote Address 3 - Working with Indigenous families and communities to put children first.
Gracelyn Smallwood, Aboriginal Activist working in health in North Queensland.
Gracelyn was born in Queensland 1951 of the Birrigubba people. She has worked as a nurse, tutor and lecturer in Aboriginal health, and AIDS educator. She has been honorary consultant to many organisations, including the Queensland Minister for Health and World Health Organisation. She is a Board Member Health & Human Rights Harvard University Boston and former Associate Professor University South Queensland and has recently completed a PhD in mental health. Grace was awarded the Henry Kempe Memorial Award for Prevention Child Abuse in 1994.
Keynote Address 4
Evelyn Scott, Chair Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. Evelyn's involvement in indigenous affairs spans 30 years where she has played an instrumental role in the Council for Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and establishment of Aboriginal Legal Services, Housing Societies and Medical Services in Queensland, receiving the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 1977. Evelyn has also worked in the Commonwealth Department Aboriginal Affairs and has twice been an Australian Government delegate to the United Nations Conference on Women. Paper
10.30am Morning Tea Break
11.00am CONCURRENT SESSIONS B - 9 to 15 and Master Classes A and B
Two 'master class workshops' are offered 11am to 3pm equivalent to concurrent Thursday sessions B,C and D. Numbers strictly limited.
Master Class A : Empowering Children and Young People who have been Sexually Abused Lorraine Fox, Child & Youth Care Educator & Trainer, USA
Master Class B: Raising the Standard - Do Children in Foster Care deserve better?
Using an internationally acclaimed approach to setting standards, this workshop will challenge participants to consider how to give the best experience to vulnerable and troubled children in out of home care.
Michael Jarman, former President of IFCW, former Director of Children's Services for Barnardo's UK, and currently Chair of the National Foster Care Association, UK.
9. Children from Indigenous Families : Bringing Them Home, Keeping Them Home
"Contemporary Issues in the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander from their families: Responding to over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care"
Muriel Cadd, Secretariat of the National Aboriginal & Islander Child Care, Australia
Our Children : "We can balance the scale- through land, culture, spirituality, empowerment, understanding, love and walking together in friendly relations."
Sheena Coleman and Kokatha Women of Western Desert Region of SA, Australia Paper
10. Out of Home Care
A Study of Primary Health Care Services for Children in State Care
An outline of the findings of a recent exploratory research project into the quality of health care provision for children in state care in Western Australia, which presents a typology of categories of children in the care system and uses this framework to reflect on their different 'care journeys' and the implications for care providers.
Brenda Clare, University of Western Australia Cover Paper
Providing Out of Home Care Options for Adolescents in Rural NSW
Centacare's Alternate Care Program, in the regional centre of Wagga Wagga, provides opportunities for adolescents forced to live outside their family.
Carolyn Doherty, Centacare Australia
Focusing on educational needs of 'Looking After' children
Research to enhance outcome focused and evidence-based practice in out of home care is reported with specific emphasis on children and caseworkers- perceptions of educational outcomes for children in care.
Elizabeth Fernandez, University of NSW Australia
11.Support of Children in Situations of Family Violence
Sustainable Development: Home Grown Solutions to National Priorities. How a local collaborative model of service delivery can fuel policy/program development.
The presentation will provide a description and evaluation of an innovative, demonstration pilot project undertaken at Sydney Court where a detached child care worker provides a caring environment for children in a stressful situation, monitors the effects of domestic violence, and makes appropriate referrals.
Margaret Gleeson, Australia Paper
"Building Safer Communities" An Early Intervention Project: this project is being implemented in collaboration and partnership at western Sydney regional level and aims to complement the child protection initiatives of the Department Education and Training in schools.
Rugmini Venkatramas, Australia Paper
12.The Value of Participation of Children And Young People
The Childrens Parliament in Slovenia
The Children's Parliament is an educational programme for democracy which aims to raise the quality of life for children, young people and families, to represent and implement their interests and needs, and to protect their rights. It operates a parliamentary system with questions, conversation and discussion of issues put by children and young people.
Urska Flerin and young people from the Childrens Parliament, Slovenia. Paper
Promoting the participation, rights and needs of children with special needs in a multicultural Australia in the new Millennium.
Vivi Germanos Koutsounadis, Ethnic Child Care Co-operative Australia Paper
Involving the expert: Recognising Clients as a Valuble Resource: the benefits of including past alternate care clients within a small fostercare programme have proven to be many, not only for experienced and prospective carers, but also for clients themselves.
Nigel Linsday, Carissa Scammell , Wesley Dalmar Australia Paper
13.Child Protection
The Use of Leverage in Child Protection Therapeutic Intervention- Does it have to be good guy vs. bad guy? Learning as we go. This presentation will look at the question of how to engage with clients in a voluntary capacity who have been referred from a mandatory service with certain expectations. The strategies draw on a wide range of therapy and case management approaches.
Carolyn Cousins, Child Protection Family Service Department of Health,Australia Paper
Sexual Abuse of Deaf Children: Prevention Strategies
Sexual abuse of deaf children crosses boarders, oceans, and political barriers at a 50% incident rate with the majority of offenders never apprehended. The purpose of this paper is to present suggestions for the prevention of sexual abuse of deaf children.
Janet Duvall, Ohio University & Mike Crispen, Police Service, USA Paper
14. "Best Practice Work in Developing Countries"
This presentation will discuss the work of three projects funded by AUSAID under the auspice of UNICEF Australia.
The VIETNAM Basic Education Project - aims to reduce the high failure and dropout rates among ethnic minority children, particularly girl children through the promotion of Multigrade and Bilingual Education (MBE) in primary schools of 14 provinces. Project activities include the development of different kinds of teaching and learning materials, provision of in-service teacher training, dissemination of relevant teaching and learning materials to multigrade primary schools and establishment of semi-boarding schools.
The LAOS Unexploded Ordnance Awareness for Children Project - is a national initiative in nine provinces and aims to implement a nationwide awareness safety program aimed primarily at school aged children, their families and ethnic minority groups. The project has five components: school safety and training package, mass media, general campaign, advocacy and capacity building.
The BANGLADESH: Child Rights Promotion through Birth Registration Program, is closely connected to child protection and is seen as a key strategy for improvements in the fields of juvenile justice, child labour and child marriage, all of which are serious problems in Bangladesh. Without birth registration, the absence of evidence of age makes implementation of laws and procedures designed to protect children difficult. By closely linking birth registration to child rights, a wide array of child related issues can become the subject of discussion and discourse by groups not normally reached by other communication.
Simon Stroud and Amanda Bissex UNICEF Australia
15. WORKSHOP "Assessing Risk & Safety in Maltreating Families"
This presentation will look at different approaches to assessing risk and safety in families reported for abuse and neglect.
The workshop will be interactive which will give the participants a chance to see the concepts applied on a sample case. Discussion will be encouraged related to how these concepts might apply for workshop participants who come from many different types of agencies.
Theresa Costello, Action for Child Protection, New Mexico Paper
1200 15 minute break for room changes - coffee on the run
12.15pm
CONCURRENT SESSIONS C - 16 to 22
16. Strengthening Families to Protect Children
The "Strengthening Families" strategy: a view from the community service sector"
A community-based child education and welfare agency reviews the philosophy and practice of Strengthening Families, a government-initiated strategy for coordinating policy and services to at-risk children and families in New Zealand.
Kathleen Livingston, Barnardos New Zealand Paper
A Plethora of Plans and Partnerships: the impact of UK Government Policies for Children and Families on non-governmental organisations.
The presentation will look at UK Government initiatives introduced since 1997 to support families, eradicate child poverty, reduce crime, and enhance educational and employment opportunities, and the impact on the voluntary child care sector in England.
Ian Vallender, National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations, UK
17.New Approaches to Young People's Participation
Childrens Participation: Some New Directions .This paper aims to highlight some good models of participation, including websites, by children and young people in Australia, emphasising that adults need to move beyond just listening to young people to involving them in processes which have a tangible outcome for them.
Susan Newell Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission Australia Paper
Youth Consultation: Can the internet help us avoid tokenism?
The paper will discuss the benefits and limitations of using the internet as the means for consulting young people and discuss the implications of using innovative technology for legitimate youth consultation
Jonathan Nicholas, REACHOUT Australia
18. Children, Young People and Legal Processes
Juvenile Justice in Sierra Leone: What hopes for the new Millennium
Mohamed Fofanah, Research Counsel Chambers of the Chief Justice, Sierra Leone Paper
Reinventing The Philippine Criminal Justice System for the Child's Best Interests: The Dilemma of Legal Intervention in Child Victimisation.
Eric Mallonga, Child Justice League Inc, Philippines
Children's rights Vs States rights - the obstruction of Federal State relations to the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The paper will specifically look at juvenile justice issues, and particularly mandatory sentencing in the NT and WA states of Australia.
Louis Schetzer, National Childrens & Youth Law Centre Australia Paper
19. Participation and Independence for Young People
"Giving a voice to young people from residential care"
This project is directly involving children and young people facing exclusion and/or discrimination through seminars, hosted in the UK, Finland, Netherlands and Romania. The young people discuss their experiences, problems and voice their strategies for positive change. A report will be presented by the young people to European Parliament and Commission with recommendations for more effective policies at national and EU level to combat social exclusion and discrimination: in short, a true Manifesto for European Children.
Eleni Andrikopolou, European Forum for Child Welfare. Paper
The Child Youth and Family Way - Preparing Youth for Independence-a successful initiative developed by the Family Resolution Team from Nelson, New Zealand.
Maria Lui, Glenda Carnegie, Sue Allen, & Mel (young person) Department Social Welfare New Zealand Paper
20. Foster Care Research and Practice
"Foster Care Trends in Western Australia 1989-1999." This paper will present the findings from a research project that analysed the trends in foster care over these years, the results of which are now being used to frame foster care policies.
Frank Ainsworth, Edith Cowan University & Sue Ash, Wanslea, Australia
"The First Four Months in Foster Care"
Results of a study that followed up children who remained in care after four months will be presented and discussed with regard to placements and problems.
James Barber, Flinders University Australia Paper
21. Working with Men and Boys
Young Men and Violence Prevention.
Many young men are both perpetrators and victims of violence, which brings them into contact with the criminal justice system. This paper considers approaches to violence prevention and early intervention including changes to policing, anger management and recreation.
Margaret Cameron, Australian Institute Criminology Australia Paper as PDF
A Collaborative Approach to Supporting Fathers
This presentation will describe the Children's Commission of Queensland's current Focus on Fathering Project, which arose from recognition of the importance of men forging positive relationships with their children.
Robin Sullivan, Childrens Commission of Qld. Australia Paper
22. Africa's Agenda for Children
Panel of presentations from African IFCW Member agencies :
"Helping Children Stay out of Trouble - the community approach" Andrew Meya
"Parents and Children together learn to cope and survive"Rebecca Nvule-Musoke, Uganda
"Promoting Children Rights in an African Setting" Elizabeth Owuor-Oyugi & Kimaru Wakaruru, Kenya Powerpoint Presentation
"Strategies for Provision of services to HIV/AIDS affected children" Ugandan experience- Rossette Sayson
1.15pm Lunch
2pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS D - 23 to 29
23. Children and Social Disadvantage
Cumulative disadvantage, child abuse and preventive and ameliorative actions
Three local empirical investigations of child abuse conducted by the authors are reviewed to identify points of constructive social leverage. A number of forms of intervention and factors ameliorative to specific neighbourhood processes and modification of the structure of social networks, are discussed.
Eileen Baldry & Tony Vinson, University of NSW Australia Paper
Raising the Profile of Children of Prisoners
This paper will seek to highlight some of the issues which children of prisoners may face when their parents are imprisoned.
Gloria Larman, Children of Prisoners Support Group, Australia Paper
Children Living in Poverty
More than half of the world's children live in poverty, yet national and international forums or initiatives tend to find it difficult to focus directly on the issues of poverty. We believe that this issue must be put on the world agenda - together with recommended strategies to protect children living in poverty.
Mabel Rantla, National Childrens Rights Committee, South Africa
24. Child Protection and Legal Responses
Parental disability and Statutory Child Protection Proceedings.
This presentation will discuss the findings of a study investigating process and outcomes for parents with disabilities and their children involved in statutory child protection proceedings.
David McConnell & Gwynnyth Llewellyn, University of Sydney Australia
Emotional Abuse and Neglect: the legal response.
The management of emotional abuse and neglect cases is problematic for welfare professionals and children's courts and this is highlighted by a study undertaken in 1998 in the Melbourne Children's Court.
Rosemary Sheehan, Monash University Australia Paper
Research on Child Deaths: Policy Implications for the Safety and Wellbeing of Children and Young People
Research on child deaths: what can be learned about the safety and well-being of children and young people from applying a social analysis to the study of child deaths.
Ruth Lawrence-Karski, Commission for Children & Young People NSW
25. Sexual exploitation & abuse
Young People and Prostitution: Back Through the Looking Glass.
This paper explores the reasons for this systematic neglect and the lessons to be learned from it, using the British experience as a case example. Alternative strategies are suggested.
Patrick Ayre, Luton University UK Paper
Defence for Children Internationally and Focal Points
This paper will focus on the international standards relating to sexual exploitation, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Helen Bayes, Defence for Children International Australia
Trafficking of Children in South Asia: The Crisis Looms Large
This paper presentation, through case studies, statistics and a video presentation will focus on this most degrading form of child labour in a detailed manner.
Ms Upala Devi Bannerjie, India
26. Participation - Hearing from Young People.
Panel of young people from Shelter programs in the Philippines, Consuelo Foundation in partnership with the Australian Youth Foundation.
27. Early Intervention & Prevention
Strengthening Families and Communities Through Volunteer Home-Visiting Programmes
Why should we invest in volunteer based home-visiting for vulnerable families and how does focussing on the mother create programmes that are in the best interests of the child ?: A perspective from an eight country family support alliance.
Ann Pemberton & Tanya Barron, Homestart International UK and Canada Cover Paper
NIFTEY-The National Investment for the Early Years: a case study in Child Advocacy
NIFTEY is a coalition of practitioners, policy makers and academics whose vision is to build a lifetime on the early years. They aim to ensure that the general community knows that the early years of life, especially the first three years, are foundationally important for the rest of life and that action must occur to ensure better integration of policies and programs for young children.
Graham Vimpani, University of Newcastle Australia
28. Participation for Children and Young People at School
Young People's participation rights at high school: the findings from an inter-disciplinary research project about high school students' perceptions of their rights to participation, recreation, health and safety in New Zealand schools.
Karen Nairn, Childrens Issues Centre Dunedin University New Zealand Paper
Giving children their rights, and responsibilities, especially in education
Initiative, motivation, innovation, a social conscience are not learnt from textbooks, they are the product of freedom and responsibility, the cornerstones of democracy - why, then do we deny the rights of democracy to our children at School, except at The Booroobin Sudbury School?
Derek Sheppard, teachers and students from Booroobin School Qld Australia Paper
29. WORKSHOP "Group Work with Children Who have Witnessed Family Violence",
This workshop will focus on practice issues including a community based approach to working with the children, treatment, evaluation and the effect of the group program and group process on these children. Techniques and activities will be shared.
Lily Cheng & Alexandra Duffy, Family Court, Australia Papers
3pm Afternoon Tea Break
3.30pm Plenary Session
Keynote Address 5
'Rhetoric and Reality: Partnership with Children Young People and Their Families'. Murray Ryburn, Paper
Dr Murray Ryburn is on leave of absence from his post as Director of Social Work at the University of Birmingham, UK. Currently he works part time looking after his children and part time for the New Zealand Family Court. Murray has researched and published extensively in the child welfare field and has taught and lectured in many different countries. The issues involved in family participation and partnership in child care and protection decision making are a particular area of interest for him.
Keynote Address 6
Participation. Gillian Calvert Paper
Gillian Calvert is NSW's first Commissioner for Children and Young People. The Commission is a new organisation set up to listen to children and young people and to promote their interests. The Commission works with children and young people and their families, schools, neighbourhoods, government bodies and community-based organisations to help make the State of NSW a better place for children and young people.
Gillian has held a number of positions, all focusing on children and young people and their families. She has been a senior policy adviser to Government, lecturer, management consultant and therapist.
5pm Session close
5pm IFCW General Assembly (to 7pm)